American Greed-CNBC

[Exhibitman]

Uni #s: Looked to be footage from an all-star game where they redid the players' usual #s with the batting lineup #s for the game.

Jeff: Great job! Succinctly laid out the issues and explained the consequences of what Mastro did quite well. I was very pleased they left in your summation of the overall impact on the hobby that this bubble of artificially inflated prices had. Do you think that Mastro junked the bidding records because you were on to him and he was afraid of the evidence you might uncover if you sued?

Ryan: Also a great job! You were the humanizing face of this situation. Your story about your passion for the history of the Negro Leagues and your hunts for their cards really gave some insight into why we collectors focus on the things we do. Did anyone catch the email Ryan sent to Doug the Thug with the tag line "F--k you and your threats." Classic!

As far as that Evers fellow goes, as I understood the story (it was a bit convoluted), he brought Mastro a large lot of cards, they gave him a bums' rush on intake, did a poor job selling them and possibly kept some, bought some themselves or through cooperating co-conspirators, then resold with proper lotting and higher graded slabs. Whether he made a killing or not is irrelevant: I have to admit if I was at a garage sale and found a box like that I'd snap it up for as little as I could pay. A willing seller's ignorance is my competitive advantage, because he could have gotten off his ass and researched too. Evers' douchebag personality does not excuse what Mastro did to him: you don't get to rip off someone just because he's a dick, though there is some karmic justice in the story. The real cautionary note here is that if you consign a bunch of stuff you MUST get a detailed inventory signed by the AH and if they won't take the time, go elsewhere. When I consigned a large lot to Heritage a few years ago (over a thousand items) I sat down and did a card by card inventory on a spreadsheet that I printed out. When I met with the Heritage rep, he and I went through line by line, he initialed every page indicating receipt, and only then did I turn over the cards.

Overall, the show was a bit hokey (the narration was campy as a Batman episode; I half expected a Zow! Pow! Bang! before each commercial break) but doing a story on card collecting for a lay audience isn't an easy sell, so you have to dress it up some. One thought I had watching it was just how eccentric collectors are. The time and money and energy we put into this thing of ours must seem so weird to outsiders.